Roll winding machine



Sept. 25, 1962 ALDEN ROLL WINDING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 8, 1959 INVENTOR Hnzzy 5 1 4 ATTORNEY Sept. 25, 1962 H. E. ALDEN 3,055,606

' ROLL. WINDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 8, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR H9212 y .E ALDEN ATTORNEYS Sept. 25, 1962 H. E. ALDEN 7 3,055,606

ROLL WINDING MACHINE Filed Jan. 8, 1959 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 INV E NTOR I Hnea y E. ALqs/v ATTORNEYS United States Patent Office 3,055,606 Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,055,606 ROLL WINDING MACHINE Harry E. Alden, Plainfield, N.J., assignor to Johnson &

Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Jan. 8, 1959, Ser. No. 785,590 1 Claim. (Cl. 24260) The present invention relates to machinery for winding, with a minimum of tension, firm rolls of extensible bandaging material.

With certain bandage materials, particularly of the type formed by the mercerization of cotton fabrics, it is desirable to roll the material with a minimum of tension in order to preserve its elasticity and self-clinging characteristics while at the sametime form a relatively compact roll to prevent deformation during sterilization and to produce a roll easier to package and handle when the bandage is being applied. The present invention is drawn to roll-winding machinery particularly adapted, although not limited, to winding materials of this type.

A relatively tight wind can be obtained without tensioning the fabric by applying pressure on the roll as it is being formed. Too great a pressure will tend to overly compact the fabric, while a varying pressure on the roll during the winding operation will give rolls of varying compactness anddiameter for any given length of fabric. It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a relatively constant pressure on the roll during winding while preventing too great compression of the roll. It is a further object to control the diameter of each convolution of the roll with respect to length of fabric being wound so that rolls containing substantially equal amounts of fabric will have about the same diameters.

Some of the objects of this invention have been stated. Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings, wherein are set forth by way of illustration and example certain embodiments of this invention.

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional side view of a bandage winding machine having my improvements embodied therein;

FIG. 2 is a sectional end view of the winding rolls and winding pressure control mechanism;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional detail view of the winding pressure control mechanism;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the winding spindle as the bandage starts to wind on the same;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the roll pressure control mechanism near the end of the formation of a bandage roll;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5 after the bandage roll has been formed and during its removal;

FIG. 7 shows the removed spindle with the bandage rolls thereon; and

FIG. 8 shows an individual bandage roll after it has been removed from the spindle.

Referring to the drawings, numeral 10 designates a frame or support for the winding mechanism. A stock roll 11 of fabric, adapted to be wound into smaller individual bandage rolls 9, rests on surface unwind rolls 12. The fabric is fed through guides to pull rolls 13 and from there to frictional winding rolls 14. On winding rolls 14 rests a knurled spindle 15 onto which the bandage fabric 8 is rolled in forming the final bandage rolls 9. This particular portion of the apparatus forms no part of the present invention.

The spindle 15 is urged down toward wind-up rolls 14 by hold-down arms -16, one of which is at each end of the spindle 15, the hold-down arms being provided with a pair of rollers 17 and 18 which are adapted to ride on the ends of spindle 15, acting as bearing surfaces so that the spindle 15 is free to rotate.

Pivotly secured to the lower ends of the hold-down arms 16 are links 19 keyed to a shaft 20 which is free to rotate in bearing 21. The shaft 20 is pulled downwardly through the action of a hold-down spring 22.

Near the end of link arm 19, but spaced in from where it is connected to hold-down arm 16, is a leg 23 to which is secured a roller 24, which is adapted to rest on the surface of a cam 25. The cam 25 is keyed to a shaft 26 and rests in its lowered position on adjustable stop screw 27. A return spring 28 continuously urges the cam to its lowered position against screw 27.

Also keyed to shaft 20, together with the links 19, is a cross link 29 secured at its other end to a reciprocating piston rod 30. The piston rod 30 in the modification shown is actuated by compressed air through air cylinder 31 to move cross link 29, rotating shaft 20 clockwise and thus raising hold-down arms 16 to release spindle 15 so the same can be removed when the bandage rolls have been wound thereon.

Unwinding rolls 12, feed .rolls 13, and friction winding rolls 14 are all driven through a drive mechanism which forms no part of the present invention but which is hereinafter briefly described so that operation of the winding apparatus can be more readily followed. Drive shaft 32 is driven by an electric motor, not shown. Through drive shaft 32, and suitable gearing mechanism, belts 33 and 34 are rotated. Belt 33, acting through conventional variable speed tension control mechanism 35, drives belt 36 which in turn, through suitable mechanism 37, drives belt 38 which rotates unwind rolls 12.

Rotation of belt 34 causes rotation of meshed gears 39 and 40 to transmit the driving power through belts 41 and 42 to winding friction rolls 14 and through belt 43- to pull rolls 13. In order to assure no slippage, the belts throughout are chains, a chain drive being preferred.

The shaft 26, on which cam 25 is mounted, is rotated by belt 44, which is actuated by gear 45 which is connected through a magnetic clutch and a conventional variable speed mechanism to gear wheel 46. The magnetic clutch and adjustable gear ratio mechanism are contained in housing 47. The gear 46 is driven through belt 48 on rotation of gear 40. When the circuit is closed so that the motor drive shaft 32 is rotating, and the magnetic clutch in housing 47 is energized, gauze is fed to spindle 15 and wound thereon while at the same time cam 25 is slowly rotated, raising hold-down arm 16 to limit the pull applied. to the ends of spindle 15. The gear ratio between gears 45 and 46 is adjusted so that as the radius of the bandage roll 9 increases the hold-down arms 16 are progressively raised, limiting the downward movement of spindle 15 and accordingly the amount of pressure applied to the roll 9 as formed as well as the radial degree to which the roll can be compressed. By varying the gear ratio between gears 45 and 46, the pressure on the bandage roll 9 as it is being formed can be varied so as to give, for any particular fabric, a tight roll throughout or a relatively loosely wound roll with the diameter of each convolution of the roll being controlled as the convolution is formed. The gear ratio between gears 45 and 46 is not varied during the winding operation but is pre-set to give the desired firmness of roll for the particular fabric being wound.

In operation, when the drive is energized so is the magnetic clutch which locks gear 45 into driven relation with gear 46. As the fabric is wound on spindle 15 to form roll 9, hold-down spring 22, through cross links 19, exerts a continuous pull on hold-down arms 16. Arms 16 in turn, through rollers 17 and 18, exert a downward pull on spindle 15, compressing the rolls 9 between the spindle 15 and the friction wind rolls 14. Spring 22,

however, cannot pull the spindle any closer than a predetermined progressively increasing distance from the wind-up rolls 14 because of the opposition offered by cam 25. As a result, the amount of pressure applied to the roll during formation is limited, while at the same time the radius of the roll is controlled through the application of this pressure on each convolution as the roll is being formed. In this manner, any variations in the fabric thickness are compensated for through a slight increase or decrease in applied pressure to give a roll of substantially uniform radius for any given length of material wound thereon. When the roll 9 has reached the desired size, the circuit is opened to stop the motor driving shaft 32 and to de-energize the magnetic clutch in housing 47. On de-energization of the magnetic clutch, gear 45 is no longer connected with gear 46 and is free to rotate independently of gear 46 with the result that return spring 28 draws cam 25 back into its lowered position against stop screw 27 into the position shown in FIGS. 3 and 6. After the winding operation is stopped through de-energization of the motor driving shaft 32, air is admitted into cylinder 31 through valve means, not shown, to extend piston rod 30, causing counterclockwise rotation of shaft 20 and raising of hold-down arms 16 to their fully raised position, as shown in FIG. 6. With hold-down arms 16 fully raised, the operator can readily remove the spindle 15 with the bandage rolls 9 thereon. The rolls are then severed from the strip fabric 8 through actuation of movable knife 49 toward stationary knife 50. The formed bandage rolls 9 are then slid off of spindle 15, and the spindle is placed on the severed fabric end, which lies across the wind-up friction rolls 14, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Air is then released from air cylinder 31 to permit the hold-down arms 16 to return to their lowered position, as also shown in FIG. 3, and the drive and magnetic clutch again energized to repeat the winding cycle.

The invention has been illustrated in connection with one embodiment thereof, although many modifications are within its spirit. It is to be limited, therefore, only by the scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

In a machine for winding rolls of yielding material, mechanism for controlling the firmness and diameter of said rolls comprising a spindle onto which said material is wound into material rolls, a pair of friction rolls for winding said material through frictional contact with said material roll, spring actuated hold-down arms for holding down said spindle, rollers carried on said hold-down arms bearing on the spindle near the ends thereof to permit free rotation of said spindle while engaged by said arms, spring means for urging said arms downwardly, a rotatable cam stopping the downward movement of said hold-down arms, spring means for normally urging said cam to its fully depressed position, means for simultaneously driving said friction rolls and turning said cam to progressively limit the downward movement of said hold-down arms with continuing rotation and resulting increase of radius of said material roll, a clutch in said drive means for disengaging the drive to said cam after a material roll has been completed to permit the said cam to return to its initial starting position, and means for raising said hold-down arms to permit removal of said spindle with the material rolls thereon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 557,649 Buckley Apr. 7, 1896 1,739,931 Valentine Dec. 17, 1929 2,196,000 Richardson Apr. 2, 1940 2,588,236 Higginbotham Mar. 4, 1952 2,609,157 Asmussen et a1. Sept. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 21,802 Germany Apr. 24, 1883 438,640 Great Britain Nov. 20, 1935 

